American Dreams
by Ficsters for Small Fry
Summary: A man's journey to America in the early 1900's. Not only does he find his American Dream, but he finds true love on the boat to Ellis Island.


I had been pacing the hallway outside my wife's door, waiting for some news. It had been over 12 hours and the local physician had been in there for the last three hours. When the physician finally came out it was with heartbreakingly, bittersweet news. My wife had passed while giving birth to my first child.

I'd been blessed with a beautiful little girl that I would name after my lovely wife, Rosario. How would I survive without my wife? How could I raise my daughter without her mother? My sister, Alicia handed me over my baby and as I looked at her I could see how much she resembled her mother already.

Our lives here had been difficult these past few years. We are farmers with more mouths to feed than we know what to do with, and little money. Even though it was just the four of us, we did not make enough from farming to pay all of our debts. The taxes we paid were increased immensely, every week it seemed, and the money we made from farming was not what it used to be. War had been destroying our lands and had been the cause of the raise in taxes. I needed a solution, now more than ever. I have a beautiful baby girl to take care of and I desire to give the best of everything. I had to seek out my friend Giovanni to see if the rumors from the South were true.

With a tear-streaked face, I rode my horse to my friend's farm about two _miglio's_ or 3,700 meters from my home. When I arrived at Giovanni's house I begged him to tell me of the stories he has heard of this place of freedom and riches. I had to make a change for my family now that my beloved is gone.

Giovanni told me that a lot of the Southern Italians have been immigrating to America to work. Many have had the fortune to find good jobs, modest homes, and money to send back to Italy. This had been taking place for over fifty years, but recently, with in the last ten to twenty years more and more Italians had been immigrating.

We spoke for several hours about all of the tales of America and the most common places of migration.

Giovanni spoke of Ellis Island as the place everyone was going to, and there was a community of Italians living in New York. Some of the other Northern Italians went to Massachusetts, but most of the Southern Italians went to Ellis Island. I needed to know more of the type of life lived over there before I would decide where to go. It seemed I had a lot of planning to do before I could make my way to America. I thanked Giovanni for his time and asked him to visit if he had knowledge of any more information.

Riding home, I thought of all the new information and how I would make my beloved wife proud of me. I had to do right by her and care for our baby, as she would have. My sister and her son, Ciriaco, lived with us. Ciriaco was four years old and had lost his father a year ago in the war. We lived in a small village named Melito in the province of Avellino just outside of Napoli. I would make plans to take Alicia, Ciriaco, and Rosario to the Port of Napoli to find a way to America.

It had been a month since I'd first spoken with Giovanni about the opportunities in America and it seems that I had all of my plans settled. Alicia was excited about our journey; she said she could sense good things for us in the future. I tried to contain my nerves, as so much of my future was now uncertain. I prayed that the stories were true and I would be able to provide a better living for my family and take them away from here and all of the effects of the war.

We were leaving for Ellis Island; I made my decision based on the tales of others. Ellis Island and New York held a grand opportunity for laborers and many Italians that resided there already. Alicia packed us a small bag filled with a snack – lunchmeat and a chunk of cheese. Alicia was used to feeding Ciriaco, so she promised to help feed Rosario. I was blessed to not have to worry about how I would do that.

We were told to travel light and with as much money as we could. Arriving at the Port in Napoli was interesting. There was a huge steamboat docked and we were told that was the boat to take us to America. The price of the tickets was much more than I could afford, but we were able to travel free of charge if we stayed where the animals would normally travel. When we boarded the boat we were directed to the bottom, and it was extremely crowded. We found a place to sit on the floor against the wall and I prayed again, this time to arrive in America, safe and sound. Our trip would take a fortnight with one stop along the way. We stayed in our place for the remainder of the trip and only moved to make use of the facilities. It was a very long and tiring journey and most of the people that traveled with us were sick. From the stories I was told it was very important not to arrive at Ellis Island ill in any way.

As I sat there with my family I looked over the crowd of people. Everyone seemed to be occupied with themselves and their families. I continued to scan over all the people until my eyes landed on a girl, a young woman that was sitting by herself. I wondered whom she was traveling with. She was beautiful; she had beautiful chocolate locks of hair that hung past her shoulders. Her skin looked creamy like the goats milk Alicia served us with dinner. I couldn't see her face very well because she was looking down into a book. I continued to stare at her, trying to will her to look up. She must have sensed my stare because a few moments later, she looked up. I watched as she scanned the crowd, her eyes finally landing on mine before they widened and her mouth formed the perfect circle. I assumed it was from surprise, but she didn't look away. We just sat there staring at each other until Rosario began to cry, and our connection was broken.

I helped Alicia care for Ciriaco when she went to the restroom to wash out her _pannolino._ It was uncomfortable where we were sitting on the cold metal floor, but that is what we had to sacrifice to gain our freedom. I closed my eyes and must have drifted off for a while because when I woke up everyone else seemed to be sleeping.

I looked around again, but this time, only to look for the girl from earlier. I found her in the same spot, still awake. I decided I would go over and talk to her, because she still looked to be alone. I placed Ciriaco on the floor next to his mother and made my way to the beautiful brown-eyed girl.

"May I?" I gestured to the floor with my hand.

She nodded and scooted over to give me some room.

I looked at her and said, "My name is Eduardo. Are you traveling alone?"

She seemed hesitant to answer, but finally responded. "Yes, I am traveling alone, but my father is awaiting my arrival in New York."

"I see. I am traveling with my sister, her son and my daughter." I told her because I did not want her to think Alicia was my wife.

She looked a bit surprised; perhaps it was because I have a daughter.

"You haven't told me your name."

She smiled and said, "You haven't asked."

Oh, she was being cute. I chuckled a bit and finally asked her, "Okay, what is your name?"

"Isabella. Please, call me Bella, and it is nice to meet you."

I felt a great need to tell this beautiful Bella everything about me. I loved my wife and never thought I would want another, but sitting here with this beautiful girl made my heart flutter. It was not just attraction it was a connection. I don't think my late wife would want me to be alone forever. I know it is soon, but who am I to question when the right time is to move forward.

"Would you like to join us, over there and we can continue talking?" I asked her.

Her creamy cheeks flushed with the most beautiful color of pink, and she nodded her acceptance.

Alicia and the children were still sleeping so Bella and I sat facing each other so our talking would not disturb the others.

"How old are you, Bella?" I asked.

"Eighteen, and you?"

"I am twenty." I replied with a nod.

"Um, can I ask you a personal question?"

I nodded.

"Where is your wife?" she asked with her head down.

I wanted her to know, but I did not want to force myself on her. I was glad she was curious. So I answered her with a sad smile. "My wife, Rosario, died while giving birth to our daughter. We had been neighbors and our parents had set us to marry since we were little children. We had only been married almost a year."

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to pry, but I had to know," she said.

I touched her hand to comfort her and attempted to make her understand that I really wanted her to know. "It's okay. Yes, I am still sad because I lost my best friend. She gave her life to give me my daughter and I have to find the goodness in that. I need to find my journey, my fate."

I looked up at her and into her eyes and I felt compelled to tell her. "Isabella, I feel a connection with you and I know it is crazy, because we just met and know nothing about each other. It's real, though, I feel I need to know you and spend time with you. Would you agree?"

She looked down for a moment as if in thought, but when she looked back into my eyes I felt her agreement. It was there and so strong and I knew we understood each other.

"I do. I want to know you as well. When you arrive to America where will you go?" she asked me.

"I don't know exactly. I have to find a place to live for us, and I heard of a place where all of us Italians live. We will go there and hopefully find something quickly. We do not know anyone there, but I heard there is much opportunity. Where does your father live?"

"He lives in Little Italy. I would like you to meet him."

Finally, we were told that we were close to arrival and that we needed to begin our preparation for our disembarking. Our arrival at Ellis Island proved to be intimidating as it was enormous. I raised my head as high as it would go to see the beautiful green lady guarding the island. Disembarking from the boat, we were ushered up a flight of stairs and into a grand hall. After being over water for such a long period of time it was difficult to get my bearings back. I felt dizzy and wobbly, but I needed to recover quickly so it would not seem as if I was sick.

A doctor checked us for illness and marked some people with chalk on their clothing. Luckily, none of us received a mark because I noticed those people had to go to another line and waited to see another doctor. All of those that did not have a chalk mark were ushered into a big waiting room where we were interviewed. A man sat behind a desk and asked a series of questions such as: What is your name? Where are you from? Do you have any money? There were many questions and it seemed as if he was rushing through the questions. When we were asked if we had money he wanted to see it and then wanted to know if we were interested in changing our money to American dollars. I decided that it was a good idea since I did not really know what was waiting for us once we were through with our inspection. Alicia and I had a total of $22.35 between the two of us and I hoped it would be enough to make our start in this new world. Isabella told me since her father was sponsoring her she did not need to travel with money. We were all declared healthy and our papers were in order so we were allowed to board the ferry to New York City.

During our ferry ride I held Isabella's hand. I did not want to think about leaving her once we arrived. She reminded me about meeting her father and I hoped to go with them to find an apartment near their home. My chest ached at the thought of not being near her. I just hoped her father would approve of me.

Upon our arrival in New York we were ushered off of the ferry and I saw Isabella's face light up with a smile. It seemed as if she spotted her father. I was nervous to meet him, but it was important to me. I turned around to make sure Alicia and Ciriaco were still with me, as I held my beautiful baby in my arms; we all walked toward our future. We stayed back a bit while Isabella greeted her father and hopefully to warm him up before our introduction.

As we stood back I watched carefully the emotion on Isabella's father's face. He was truly happy to see her and it showed how much he loved her.

Isabella turned to get my attention as she held her father's hand. She sort of pulled him toward me so she could introduce us.

As soon as he was in front of me I held out my hand for a shake and said, "Eduardo Masen, it is nice to meet you, Sir."

He looked me up and down as he shook my hand. I thought he was going to send me away, but instead he smiled.

"It is nice to meet you, too. I'm Charlie. And who is this cute _bambina_?"

My smile was so big as I answered him.

"This is my beautiful daughter, Rosario." Then I turned around and said, "This is my sister, Alicia, and her son, Ciriaco."

Everyone exchanged pleasantries and Charlie invited us to his home. He told me of some different apartments in his building and on his street. He also told me about his job and offered to help me get in with him. I was actually excited to get started.

As we made our way to Isabella's home I thought about how I would court Isabella and hopefully marry her some day soon. I knew that was what I wanted, and I only had my wife, Rosario, to thank for the opportunity. If it weren't for her I would not have made this journey or met my Isabella. I held Isabella's hand and I looked up to the sky and gave thanks for being here. Then with a big smile, I snuck a kiss on Isabella's cheek.

Benvenuti in America.


End file.
